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The UK Faces demands From France to Pay More under the Treaty of 'Le Touquet'

The British government is facing demands from their French counterparts to pay for new customs posts across the English Channel after it withdrew from the European Union. The French president, Emmanuel macron is expected to pay a visit to the United Kingdom early next year where he is expected to raise the issue with the British Premiere, Theresa May. The demand by France is expected to infuriate the Tory leader and Brexiteer, Iain Duncan Smith, who has branded the move by Paris as absurd.

The case by the French government is based upon the emerging new arrangements regarding customs after the United Kingdom leaves the single market of the European Union. There are already millions being spent by the government to upgrade the systems in ports such as Dover and the preparation for a scenario where there is no deal which could force the checking of all goods. France believes that London should cater for all the additional costs accrued under the treaty of Le Touquet. The Le Touquet treaty is a bilateral commerce agreement between France and the United Kingdom on the channel ports.

The treaty allows the UK border to operate on the channel side of France and has nothing to do with the European Union. This means that traders and travelers are only checked once while crossing the international border between the two countries. According to a report compiled by the Telegraph, senior government officials from Paris have met with their counterparts from the United Kingdom to discuss the issue.

The Hauts-de-France regional envoy to Britain, Jean-Paul Mulot, said that the cost for such a program would plummet into the tine of hundreds of millions of dollars. Mulot noted that he had hopes that one day, the United Kingdom would cooperate and avail the necessary funding. However, Mr. Duncan said that there was no legal nor a logical reason as to why the United Kingdom should offer the financing as demanded by Paris.

He continued to note that no other nation was asking for funds like Belgium and Holland.
Mr. Duncan said the British Premiere, Theresa may, should remind president Macron of France that Paris stands a chance to benefit from the arrangement. The reason behind this is that France sells more goods to the United Kingdom than Britain exports to Paris. The British government has already agreed the sum amount payable to the European Union and senior officials say that it will be up to the EU to decide on whether to give some of the money to France.